Located just east of downtown Lubbock, the High Cotton Genesis Center is one of the most unique homeless assistance facilities in the nation. On the five-acre site of a former cotton gin, the High Cotton program provides temporary shelter for Lubbock's homeless population in the form of "Tent City," as well as various assistive services. High Cotton is managed by Link Ministries, a faith-based non-profit organization that works to connect those in need with appropriate facilities and programs.

In its three years of existence, High Cotton has grown rapidly both in terms of programming and also facilities in order to keep up with increasing demand from Lubbock's homeless population. In the fall of 2013, Link Ministries and the High Cotton Core reached out to HiWorks Architecture, Urbanist Design, and Studio Outside Landscape Architects to produce a conceptual and schematic design for the High Cotton site. The design team arrived in Lubbock for an initial two-day site visit, including a tour of Tent City, led by Burrus and Driskill, and two design charettes with the Link Ministries Board of Directors, held at Urban Tech's downtown office. In addition to touring the existing facilities and meeting with various stakeholders, they discussed both the tactical and strategic goals of the project as well as a staggered, phase-based implementation.

After an immensely productive visit to Lubbock, the designers returned to their home cities to translate their experience of the site and the contributions of the charette participants into a combined design vision for the future of High Cotton Genesis Center. In the months that followed, the design team developed a program document that described the specific facilities to be created, as well as a conceptual design of the facility itself, including renderings of the proposed additions.